I walked into the conference room with a slight touch of enthusiasm, some of which was considered suspicious by the MOM general Candy Flower. A name so sweet, you couldn't tell the amount of ponies she had killed for the ministry mare Pinkie Pie for espionage. When zebra spies and infiltrators hear her name they didn't laugh in reassurance, they cried and ran for there direst lives. A reputation that exceeded her deceitful personality, of a kind loving mare who was on a witch hunt for every zebra alive in Equestria. Opposite her was general Matthew from MWT and general Archangel from the MOP, both waiting to hear what the meeting was all about. I scanned the room for any lurking stealth zebras and shut the door, all cameras were turned off and communication inside the conference room was jammed, nothing of vital importance would be discussed outside of this room. I greeted the other generals and began the presentation, with a slight hint of regret that would quickly build up into submission.
At first the presentation went well, with all three of the generals support firmly in my grasp, but as the conference continued, arguments took place, and I was begging to lose my support on the project once and for all. By the end only general Archangel was in favour, while general Flower and general Matthew argued amongst themselves if it was worth the investment cost. Finally I heard my response and my day had change from better to worse.
"It wont work." General Matthew said bluntly, checking over the final schematics for the new winged project.
"How do you know that." I retorted, knowing full well the problems with the project. It was expensive, costly in time and resources. Fuel for the Winged Steel Fortress was nearly more consumption than power plant, and I wanted six of them. I knew to would be far fetched, but if it worked... My thought was interrupted by the blunt, but more focused and determined response from the general, who was now a bit frustrated at me not accepting his straight forward fact.
"I know and I'll say it again, it wont work." General Matthew repeated, this time with deep eye to eye contact.
"Why!" I snapped, angered by his unwillingness to answer my question.
"For several reasons." He stated, with a prideful expression. He looked over the documents one last time, then relocated his stare onto me.
"This flying contraption of yours won't fly, the loads are to heavy, and not to mention all the zebra defences it would have to go through to even reach its target. It's all a waste of precocious time and resources, that we as the nations last line of defence cannot spare." I looked abashed. He knew he was right, but my dry sense of wartime humour took hold, as I made a devilish grin.
"For someone from the ministry of wartime technology, you certainly don't like knew ideas... or are you just slow to embrace them." I responded in a pure golden voiced fashion, as general Archangel chuckled at the sentiment whilst general Flower just glared, as if having other things on her mind rather than the joke at hoof. However the attitude came with a cost, as general Matthew stood up ready to retaliate with an onslaught of words. The general pointed directly at my head from across the circular table and began to undo my day.
"Hey you watch it general Gem, we may be the same rank but at least my ministry isn't some dismissed remnant of its former self." He barked, making the other generals in the room a slight bit more comfortable, as they could just sit back and watch the discussion take its bloody course.
"What do you mean." I asked in a weird mixture of concern. Intrigue and suspicion.
"You mean you don't know, awe this is too rich!" General Matthew bellowed out loud, laughing so hard that I knew that this would no longer be a secret meeting, angered and a slight embarrassed of not knowing a clue about the situation, I shouted. "What are you talking about!"
"There shutting you down Gem." He responded, wiping the tears for his eyes. I looked at him in utter disbelieve.
"What..." I muttered, thinking it was a comeback joke from the previous conversation.
"Your ministry is packing itself up, because of plans like this that are useless to the war effort, the princesses should be disgusted with you." He said in utter disgrace. Those words hit me like a spear to the heart, failing the princess was the utmost disgrace a general could ever endure. I thought rapidly, thinking that it was just a ruse to withdraw my attention, but it was working. I tried hard to retaliate, to say anything, his ministry had suffered a great deal of failures in the past and he knew that, but being shut down was never an option. I began to stutter, lost for words to an response whilst the general smirked knowing his tactic was working, and began once more.
"I-I-" I stuttered, in a horrified expression.
"Awe lost for words." The generals smirk grew bigger and bigger by the second. "Maybe if you spent more time helping us create more effective weapons to fight the zebras, rather than a bucking flying machine that cant take off from the ground, maybe your little ministry would have stayed open for business." He grinned while general Archangel stood up in my defence, knowing full well that my feelings had been hurt. I was the youngest one out of all of them, only being twenty six years old. Many wartime generals were usually forty or more when they take there position, but I was a special case.
"Matt that's enough!" General Archangel ordered in his majestic voice, my eyes widened. I didn't want this to complicate relations between the MOP and the MWT. They were essential for my plan to work, and having there top commanders fight vocally was not going to work out in anyone's favour. Before I could speak, general Matthew responded. Having stood up again facing towards general Archangel who stood his ground respectively.
"And who are you to talk, your ministry was the ones who gave the stripped bastards the megaspell in the first place!" He shouted, general Archangel's ears lowered as he sat back down not what to take the conversation further. General Flower rolled her eyes, having not taken a part in any of the conversations after the presentation. I looked in despair as she stood up, nodded, and left the conference room. Not giving her final opinion on the plan.
General Matthew and general Archangel, realising that there was no more point to the discussion, both stood up, simultaneously symbolising the end of the meeting. General Archangel glared at me both with a nod and a smile, showing that he still was in full support of the project. I smiled back and saluted, showing him respect as he then departed from the conference room. Now it was just me and general Matthew left, he turned to me with frown of disappointment, and said his final sentence before exiting the room.
"Contact me when you have something worth while to show me, otherwise the ministry of wartime technology will not help you with this project." He boasted. I stood there with and angered expression, he knew how I felt. Before he exited through the door, he spoke his final whisper.
"Have a good day, and good luck..." And shut the door.
The room was silent, for just a little while longer whilst cameras flickered back to life, and the frequency sound of new communication flooded the room like a gas. The meeting was over, and it had been less than successful. A mare ran into the room, which was no longer restricted as I sat back down and scanned her uniform. Lieutenant major, what's she doing her. I thought.
"Excuse me general, but the ministry mare would like to speak to... In private." She stuttered, intimated by my fixed posture and presence.
Those final words were my death sentence, as I nodded and began to walk to one of the most important office in Equestria.
Where Rainbow Dash didn't take kindly to failures, both of me, and the project.
Author's Note
My first Fallout Equestria Side story.
Must admit fells good completing the first chapter, considering I'm still working on two other stories. But yeah hear it is.
Please leave comments if you want, and I hope it was all worth it.
Hope you enjoy.
